Ol'Harry

SEARS SATISFIED MILTON STANFIELD

AND VICE VERSA

Milton Stanfield and his fourth grade buddies at Monticello School found it exciting to watch smoke rise from a large fire over the horizon not far from their school.  “Even though they told me later in the day the smoke had come from my house, I was not prepared for what I saw as I stepped off the school bus -- all that remained of our home were the three chimneys, all else was ashes.”

STANFIELD HAS VIVID MEMORIES
OF WW II AND SEARS, ROEBUCK & CO.

The Stanfields rebuilt on their 97-acre tobacco farm.  Milton Stanfield finished school at Monticello.  After a brief farming deferment from the draft, he was off to Army boot camp at Fort McClellan, Alabama, in March, 1944.  

By July, 1944, he had joined Company E, 315^th Regiment of the 79^th Infantry Division in France as a replacement BAR-man. 

BAR-MAN MILTON STANFIELD DURING WORLD WAR II

The Monticello Stanfields were notified in November, 1944 that their son was missing in action.  Shortly afterwards, a telegram informed them he had been killed in action.

“That was a huge mix-up – actually, I was wounded by shrapnel on November 13, 1944 and spent time in three different hospitals.  At one point, they came through the wards and ordered all of us who could walk, back to the lines.  Our Battalion Doctor sent me right back to the hospital, but I was finally able to go back on limited duty by January 25, 1945. 

My folks sent me a nice package of goodies for Christmas, 1944.  I received it in August, 1945 – all the Mr. Goodbars had worms in them,” recalls Stanfield.

Stanfield remembers V-E Day well, “There was more shooting going on that day than on most days when the war was going on – thank the Lord, they weren’t shooting at people anymore!”

Even though he prefers to be known as a “numbers guy,” he is good with words as well.  He can call up most of the French towns his regiment fought through, and the French liquors they sampled – “I can pronounce them but didn’t care for the taste at all!”

The ships on which he sailed over 70 years ago are on the tip of his tongue, “I went over on the USS West Point and came back on the SS Erne Pyle Victory Ship.  We were in rough seas quite often.  I never got seasick, but went over large expanses of water not wanting a thing to eat.”

MILTON STANFIELD JUSTIFIABLY PROUD OF HIS COMBAT
INFANTRYMAN BADGE AND PURPLE HEART

With his two sons in the service, Percy Stanfield sold the farm and moved his wife and three daughters to Madison, where he worked as a tobacco buyer and operated a bowling alley. 

After being discharged in 1946, Milton Stanfield farmed and worked in the bowling alley.  He may have looked around for a wife as well.  “I met Trevia Joyce on a blind date to the Moravian Easter Sunrise services in Winston-Salem – we were married in October, 1947.”

Stanfield admits to good timing, “The Sears Mail Order Plant in Greensboro was the only job in town during those days – I started there in 1948 and retired in 1985.”  He built a home on Textile Drive in Greensboro, “It cost $5600, but that included $100 for an extra lot.  The payments were $27.68 per month.”

Fair disclosure – 93-year old Stanfield did not talk from notes during our meeting at Subway in Summerfield -- but his daughter, Emily Oakley, kept us on track.

Trevia Stanfield inherited family land in Madison, where she and her husband built a home after his Sears retirement.  She died in 2007 – they had been married 60 years.  They had two children, five grands, and 13 great-grandchildren. 

When asked what he does every day, Milton Stanfield replied, “Absolutely nothing!”  Emily Oakley reminded him that he goes to Hardees every day of his life and spends hours of quiet time with Sudoku – numbers guy, remember?  In addition to trips to Conyers, Georgia to visit his son Larry, and his family, Stanfield attends quarterly meetings of the Sears Catalog Order Plant Retiree Club in Greensboro. 

He doesn’t have to spend much time washing and waxing his 1988 Chevrolet Caprice Classic because he keeps it garaged, “I special ordered that car from the Chevrolet dealer in King, North Carolina.  I had to wait two months for it to come in because I wanted cruise control.”  He also special ordered his 1997 Chevrolet S-10 pick-up, “I wouldn’t have anything but a six-cylinder!” 

I haven’t verified this, but Stanfield shared with me that dew causes more harm to automotive finishes than does the sun.

STANFIELD SAYS HE DOESN'T DO ANYTHING ALL DAY
HIS DAUGHTER SAYS HE GOES TO HARDEES EVERY DAY

Stanfield remains a member of Friendship United Methodist Church, a 150-year old mainstay of the Monticello community – whose property adjoined the Stanfield land.